ArticleNature communications2026
A longitudinal analysis of published clinical practice guidelines and their effect on disease burden.
Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are intended to improve health and reduce disease burden, yet their global status and their association with disease burden remain unknown. This longitudinal ecological study analyzes the quantity and quality of CPGs and explores their associations with disease burden. From 1995 to 2023, 10,657 CPGs were published, with the number of CPGs in 2023 being 5.15 times the number of CPGs in 1995. Europe contributed 40.2% of all CPGs, while CPGs from Africa accounted for only 0.8% of and showed minimal growth. Treatment CPGs contributed the most (45.0%), while diagnosis CPGs showed the fastest growth. Prevention CPGs (8.4%) and nursing CPGs (5.3%) and rehabilitation CPGs were less common, with rehabilitation CPGs showing the slowest growth. The 3-year update rate of CPG is 23.8%. Quality assessment of 1633 CPGs using AGREE II revealed substantial variation across domains. Overall 37.8% CPGs achieved scores above 70% per domain, while the "applicability" domain had the lowest median score (36%). Cross-region CPGs and CPGs for neoplasms exhibited the highest AGREE II scores, with the median score exceeding 70% in 3/6 domains. In contrast, CPGs from Asia and CPGs for cardiovascular diseases did not exceed the 70% threshold in any domain. Neither the quantity nor the quality of CPGs was significantly associated with disease burden at the national level. In conclusion, this study reveals that the quantity of CPGs has increased over the past three decades, although geographic and thematic differences remain. Future opportunities for CPG development include improving the AGREE II scores and focusing on less represented areas including rehabilitation, nursing and prevention.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.